‎Peter Kuchinke‎ to Glassies
44 mins ·
17 years ago I initiated the production of pre-molten glass nuggets for studio glass furnaces .
Since May 2018 I am not anymore partner of the Cristalica nugget production, I do not check the quality anymore; I do not follow the production as I have done for all these years.
As far as I know the quality of Cristalica Nuggets has turned poor and unreliable, the greed of the investor has destroyed the reputation of the product. Trying to produce a larger amount than suitable in a to small furnace and obviously using scrap material in the batch has been on the agenda of the investor before, I could prevent it for years but now I can see from the quality of the material, today all that is done for the single reason: to earn more money. It took several years to develop the product, make a reliable and customer friendly raw material, compatible with all the colours, easy to handle and environmentally friendly.
I hope that there will be a different solution in the very near future, I is not easy to make raw material for many different customers, the formula is open source, the best machine for making nuggets is nothing secret either.

Having communicated with Peter multiple times , There was a lot of resistance to changing the formulation for the high Boron/barium content it has had for two years which drew me to dis it not long after I brought it into the country for distribution by SP Batch Co.
Again. I was not surprised at the company dismissing my concerns about the formulation and it was not long after that after having volunteered to change that formula that the company explained it "Had the full confidence of Kuchinke" in piloting the formula along.

I quit at that point. We've gotten another version of Sys96 and it will indeed eat your furnace alive. The claim that the company is reducing the boron content to 1.25 is the same set of numbers we had two years back on the original formula. The surprise is Kuchinke having bailed in such a public way. I don't know why that would occur but the very public way it happened is indeed a surprise for me.

I would still tell Cristalica I will rewrite that formula but at this point they have to ask and to pay me. They certainly know how to find me. The formulation I wrote quietly for Spruce Pine Batch Co two plus years back continues to be excellent in every way and could be converted into cullet with no difficulty. I'm melting it tonight as I always do.

I do think a possible solution is on the horizon which does not violate the intellectual property rights of Spruce Pine Batch company in any way. SP87 is great unless you are casting. Mine is great for both. The moves of Parriot are intellectual property rights violations that are substantial and I told him that when he wrote me earlier this summer to try to get that formula. My stance has not changed. Would you want your work lifted in such a cavalier manner? While I have that formula, it won't come from me.

So, onward into this intellectual fog. If Cristalica wants to use my formula, they can call me. Andreea knows how to contact me. Peter certainly sounds bitter about it. I mean anyone who makes clear cullet is doing it for the money. Who would think making cullet was in pursuit of art? I assume the separation did not go well.

We are happy to confirm that stocks are going up steadily, as production was successfully increased. You might not experience this immediately, but rest assured that glass is on its way. Moreover, we have twitched the recipe based on your feedback to better suit your needs.
We are – as always – reachable for any questions via mail or phone and will be there in person for meeting you at the larger glass fairs. The same goes for our official distributors and partners in advising you directly: Olympic Color Rods and Spruce Pine Batch for the US, Kuta Glassworks for Canada. All official communications regarding Cristalica Studio glass will be made through them to you.
We would like from now on to abstain from commenting on this forum. Although we feel it is a good place for and offers the means to exchange information, we do get the impression that some threads tend to derail from their informative purpose and we want to use 100% of our energy into implementing the goals we set out together with the glass community rather than keep reacting to messages we believe we have answered previously. We (and our direct partners) are open to answer any new inquiries directly. We feel we would just keep explaining ourselves when we do not feel that this is actually wanted or the case. We would rather let the product do the talking. We hope you can understand this and look forward to further be in contact with anyone that wants to get the facts directly from us and our partners. Also, you can find us directly also on Facebook, on our new page: www.facebook.com/cristalicastudioglass 😊
We do believe that if you met or talked to our team in person (be it Cristalica directly – Martin Gründer or myself, or our very professional partners from OCR, SPB or Kuta), you know that we put great dedication and heart into this product and we do not take such things as quality lightly – that’s what Cristalica Studio Glass has stood for from the very beginning and that’s what our work is for: to keep it on the same track.
Thank you!

So, from here on, we won't get notice as to what the boron content might be at all. I for one assume it's still there. We won't have any information about Kuchinke's claims on Facebook? This seems to me like a sort of stonewall regarding the product. It's hard to imagine that will go over well.

Why not answer the questions directly? This forum is the best source of information for much of the glass world in the US, which is their new market. If I spend $20,000 a year on something, I want to get direct answers.
We call this "crawfishing" where I live.....

Why not answer the questions directly? This forum is the best source of information for much of the glass world in the US, which is their new market. If I spend $20,000 a year on something, I want to get direct answers.
We call this "crawfishing" where I live.....

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And you deserve direct answers.
Remember not too long back when Spectrum was selling the 100 stones in every Bag? Most people, left to call the distribution reps all got fed the same line and thought there was not really a problem. That was certainly untrue and this board had an instrumental role in letting people know about the widespread nature of the contamination which ultimately led to a lot of product getting replaced.

This is not dissimilar. Having been in on the early distribution of Cristalica before I bailed, we had a spec sheet that state the same amount of boron in the glass two years back as Andreea would assure you is the number in the new improved version. I objected to the Borax content then but was dismissed.

Kuchunke was certainly public in his exit from the scene. Peter does not have a great grasp of English as a second language and I suspect it was hard for him to put that together. I note that Andreea not only did not acknowledge him, she announced she didn't want to communicate directly in public anymore.

The invitation is out there for a new vendor of a decent cullet. With this attitude, Cristalica won't be around too long, but don't worry, you'll have glass in November. Spruce Pine batch just keeps looking better all the time.

Why not answer the questions directly? This forum is the best source of information for much of the glass world in the US, which is their new market. If I spend $20,000 a year on something, I want to get direct answers.
We call this "crawfishing" where I live.....

Mark, you can get answers directly - just email her, she seems happy to respond to questions. As to posting on this site, I'd imagine that the all-too-frequently negative tone keeps a number of people from wanting to participate.

Mark, you can get answers directly - just email her, she seems happy to respond to questions. As to posting on this site, I'd imagine that the all-too-frequently negative tone keeps a number of people from wanting to participate.

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"all too frequently negative tones?

Tell us more.

I get tons of private emails and private messages with questions about process and materials and I inevitably ask the person to please put the question on the board since it will allow the larger body to look at the question. I find the board as a whole to invariably be far wiser than me.

In this case, the larger body could absorb the question and probably more importantly the response than Andreea doing a one on one or any of the distributors who don't really know much about the product. That benefits everyone. It's the main reason Craftweb is a teaching process. There are a lot of systemic problems with the cullet supply right now and they were predictable. Talking about them isn't frequent negativity in my mind.

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